New diet - Book - New adventure

Hi, its been a while since we last posted. Life is crazy busy and never lets up. We came across a book called Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS). It is written by a doctor in England who cured her son from Autism through a diet. After listening to a podcast of an interview of her it all made so much sense. Basically she talked about changing the diet to all non-processed foods, organic fruit and vegetables and natural meat. The first stage is mainly broth from meat and vegetables, and then adding in food as the body is ready for it.

So we started this diet about two weeks ago and it has been very rough and expensive. But we have seen a lot of improvement in our 4 year-old autistic son. It has been the simple things that we have noticed like jumping with both feet, picking up a book and reading it, trying to talk more, more independent, and better coordination. So it has been really cool to watch.

The diet at first was very hard and we are not living it to the letter of the law with him but he is eating about 90% of what we give him. Which before that it was hot dogs, cheese tacos, Doritos, and other junk food.

The first few days we basically had to starve the kids until they would eat what we had made. We decided that we had to be a little more flexible with our two year old, mainly because he is so stubborn and we only have so much energy.

The basis of the diet is to heal the gut. You are suppose to do the diet for two years and then you should be able to digest food properly. I encourage you to check into it. We have a bunch of links on our site.

We also published a book on Amazon. It is by my 6 year old daughter. Its called "My Autistic Brothers." Its available on both Amazon and Kindle. You can find it on our site. www.lifewithpdd-nos.com

I must give a big shout out to my wife. She is amazing!! I'm sure most of you reading this are women and I have to give props to you all because I know the from my wife's experiences being a mother of an autistic child or one with any other disability is tough. You all deserve a million dollars, per year.

Dad's Point of View

I just wanted to let anyone and everyone know that my husband decided to start a blog about raising special needs kids from a Dad's point of view.

I hope he can connect with other dad's, so he will feel like someone out there understands. But it's good for anyone to read. It's always nice to be reminded what a Dad's point of view is. Pass this along to any special needs families' you know... or just anyone who might be interested!

www.scmc0310.blogspot.com

Enjoy!!

Dynavox anyone?

So we went to an evaluation thinking we were going to come out being told to either buy an ipad or an itouch. They spent the entire time mildly outraged that anyone would suggest such a thing. They had a salesman there to give me the shpeal on Dynavox Maestro.

I have to admit, the first time he took the thing and bashed it on the table they kinda had me.

Pros about the Maestro compared to ipad:

Dedicated to speech, made by speech pathologists so it is easy to use

The therapist said it is 10x easier to program and to use than the ipad

Has camera, internet, and many of the great things the ipad has

Our current insurance will pay for all of it

Very durable

Has 1 year warranty

Can pay for warranty after that (although it is $300-$500 a year)

From 8-5 I will have tech support

They come to your home and school to teach everyone how to use it.

It uses PECS pictures (unless I choose to change them)

Cons about Maestro compared to ipad:

Someday we will have different insurance and even if it pays 80%, the Maestro is $7,000...that's still a lot

The ipad has about 1 million apps that at some point Josh will want to use (unrelated to speech) and although the Maestro is essentially a computer (PC) and you can do just about anything on it you can on a computer...it isn't an ipad

It is 3.5 lbs (and when you are only 36 lbs, that is a big deal)

It is thicker than an ipad

We will still have to pay for the warranty which is like buying an ipad once a year

His teachers are used to using ipads, not Dynavox. (Although the guy will teach them)

That is all I can think of right now. I went ahead and signed up for the Maestro with the understanding that I can call it off in the next few months without losing anything.

Do any of you have any experience with any of this? What do you guys think?

Love That Max: A simple way to help another family this holiday s...

Love That Max: A simple way to help another family this holiday s...: A reader, Lynne, shared the below letter with me, which she'd sent to her local radio station, The Point 97.1 in Las Vegas, for their "Holi...

Please Come!

If you have any questions please email me :)

Jesscaandrews@aol.com

http://www.fourinthefam.blogspot.com/



Theology of Disability

Hello all, I received an email from Tera at the 'Kidz' blog.  There is a student from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA who is doing her thesis on the LDS theology of disability.  She is looking for parents of special needs kids to interview.  While she is primarily focusing on the LDS view, she is also looking for parents of other faiths.  She is not LDS herself.  It is a very intriguing project.  You can read more about it on her blog here. Even if you don't want to participate, it may be interesting to follow her blog to see what she finds out.  She explains it much better than I do.  If you are interested, the best way to reach her is at kohleranne@gmail.com

Hey everyone. I am looking to take Mason in to get a thorough vision screening done, but I don't feel like I can take him to just any optometrist. It needs to be someone patient, good with children, and able to help a child who may not respond well to the "normal" routine of an eye exam. Have you taken your kids anywhere? Who do you recommend? I am looking preferably in Weber/Davis county, but I can travel a little if necessary.

Thanks!